{"id":113452,"date":"2018-06-25T15:50:07","date_gmt":"2018-06-25T14:50:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=113452"},"modified":"2018-06-25T15:50:07","modified_gmt":"2018-06-25T14:50:07","slug":"space-force-trump-orders-new-branch-of-us-military","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2018\/06\/space-force-trump-orders-new-branch-of-us-military\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Space Force’: Trump Orders New Branch of US Military"},"content":{"rendered":"

Trump claims plan will keep US ahead in space race, prompting fears over militarisation of space. We must have American dominance in space, he says.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/a>

The plan is likely to raise fears over the militarization of space.
Photo: Bangali News<\/p><\/div>\n

19 Jun 2018 – <\/em>Donald Trump<\/a> said yesterday he would direct the Pentagon to create a \u201cspace force\u201d as a new branch of the US military to shore up American dominance in space.<\/p>\n

Trump claimed that the plan will ensure that America, which plans a return to the moon and a mission to Mars,<\/a> stays ahead of China and Russia in any new space race. But it is likely to raise fears over the militarisation of space and prompted a slew of Twitter parodies featuring Star Trek and Star Wars.<\/p>\n

\u201cVery importantly, I\u2019m hereby directing the Department of Defense and Pentagon to immediately begin the process necessary to establish a space force as the sixth branch of the armed forces,\u201d the president said at the White House.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a big statement. We are going to have the air force and we are going to have the space force \u2013 separate but equal. It is going to be something so important.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump asked Gen Joseph Dunford, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, to carry out the assignment. Dunford replied: \u201cWe got it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The president added: \u201cLet\u2019s go get it, general. But that\u2019s the importance that we give it. We\u2019re going to have the space force.\u201d<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/coolghost101\/status\/1008761082054262785?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fus-news%2F2018%2Fjun%2F18%2Fspace-force-donald-trump-orders-new-branch-of-us-military<\/p>\n

The president was speaking at the third meeting of the National Space<\/a> Council, revived after a quarter of a century. He was joined by Mike Pence, the new Nasa administrator Jim Bridenstine and former astronaut Buzz Aldrin, the second man to walk on the moon.<\/p>\n

But there was a sceptical reaction from Bill Nelson, the Democratic senator for Florida<\/a>, home of Cape Canaveral. He tweeted: \u201cThe president told a US general to create a new Space Force as 6th branch of military today, which generals tell me they don\u2019t want. Thankfully the president can\u2019t do it without Congress because now is NOT the time to rip the Air Force apart. Too many important missions at stake.\u201d<\/p>\n

During his remarks, Trump promised that America will always be first in space and that national pride is at stake. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be important monetarily and militarily,\u201d he added. \u201cBut so important for right up here \u2013 the psyche. We don\u2019t want China and Russia and other countries leading us.\u201d<\/p>\n

He insisted: \u201cWhen it comes to defending America, it is not enough to merely have an American presence in space. We must have American dominance in space. So important.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump has floated the idea of a space force before but met both mockery and high-level resistance. Last October, his own defence secretary Jim Mattis wrote in a memo: \u201cI oppose the creation of a new military service and additional organizational layers at a time when we are focused on reducing overhead and integrating joint warfighting functions.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Monday Trump also signed a policy directive for reducing satellite clutter in space. It sets up new guidelines for satellite design and operation to avoid collisions and spacecraft breakups.<\/p>\n

_______________________________________________<\/p>\n

David Smith is the <\/em>Guardian’s Washington DC bureau chief.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 theguardian.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Trump claims plan will keep US ahead in space race, prompting fears over militarisation of space. We must have American dominance in space, he says.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":74346,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-113452","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-militarism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113452","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=113452"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113452\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/74346"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=113452"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=113452"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=113452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}